


Formation lap

by EggMuffin



Series: EggMuffin's FicWriMo [5]
Category: Kingsman (Movies)
Genre: 2011 Australian GP, Eggsy is a legacy driver, F1 AU, Formula 1, Gen, M/M, Pining Eggsy, Relationships are mentioned briefly, Unrequited Eggsy/Harry, driver Eggsy, driver Roxy, engineer Merlin, takes place during the 2011 F1 season, team principal Harry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-05
Updated: 2016-11-05
Packaged: 2018-08-29 06:14:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,721
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8478400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EggMuffin/pseuds/EggMuffin
Summary: ‘’This season promises to be an interesting one as it marks the debut of Gary ‘’Eggsy’’ Unwin, the son of the late Lee Unwin, who died tragically in a collision during the 1997 Japanese Grand Prix.''EggMuffin's FicWriMo #5





	

**Author's Note:**

> ''Formation lap is the lap before the start of the race when the cars are driven round from the grid to form up on the grid again for the start of the race. Sometimes referred to as the warm-up lap or parade lap.''
> 
> It's a F1 AU! Okay, so you may not know, but I love F1. And I love Kingsman. And honestly, Kingsman lends itself so well to a F1 AU. I mean, obviously Eggsy is a legacy driver. Obviously Kingsman is a great F1 team. Obviously Harry is Lee's old teammate. 
> 
> I've blended some Kingsman elements into the actual 2011 F1 season, specifically the first race, the Australian GP. I chose 2011 so that the character's ages would make more sense. According to his police file, Eggsy was born in September 1991, which would make him 19 years old at the time of his debut (the Australian GP was held in March), which is a pretty common age for a F1 debut, especially in the recent years. I normally just use Colin Firth's year of birth (1960) when calculating Harry's age, but in this fic Harry was born in 1965, making him 46 years old here (almost the same age as Toto Wolff wow it's almost like I took the Mercedes F1 team for my basis when creating Kingsman F1 what an amazing coincidence). James and Percival are both born in the early 70s.  
> Now, obviously Eggsy's result in his first race is highly unlikely, but he's really very good (must be those racing genes) and Kingsman's cars are really very very good (thanks, Merlin!).  
> As I mentioned in the tags, the relationships are really only mentioned (by a pining Eggsy). No sexual puns about rear ends needing to get lubed up here. Sorry. (Also holy shit what EggMuffin wrote something that isn't porn? Whaaat? I'll be back with the scheduled porn tomorrow, I promise.)

_‘’This season promises to be an interesting one as it marks the debut of Gary ‘’Eggsy’’ Unwin, the son of the late Lee Unwin, who died tragically in a collision during the 1997 Japanese Grand Prix._

_Unwin joins Kingsman alongside last year’s newcomer Roxanne Morton and is replacing James Spencer. Spencer started in Benetton Formula in 1995 and joined Kingsman in 1998, where he stayed until his retirement last year. Spencer is a two-time World Champion and is generally regarded as one of the best drivers, so young Unwin has some big shoes to fill. But then again, Unwin’s father was a true F1 wunderkind – discovered by none other than Harry Hart, he joined Kingsman in 1994 and won the championship title both in 1995 and 1996. At the time of his death at the second to last race of the 1997 season, Unwin was in second place after Jacques Villeneuve, who took the title._

_Teammates Hart and Unwin collided after Hart lost control over his car in very wet conditions in the Dunlop curve. Hart’s car collided into Unwin’s, who had been close on his heels, sending Unwin flying. Described as one of the most horrifying accidents in F1 history, the collision killed Unwin while Hart escaped with minor injuries. Nevertheless, as a sign of respect, Hart didn’t take part of last race of the 1997 season. He retired from F1 for two years, returning to Kingsman as a third driver alongside James Spencer and Percival Morton in 2000. His return to racing was surprising, as many rumoured that the collision traumatised him and he blamed himself for Unwin’s death, making fans question whether Hart would ever take the wheel again. Hart enjoyed moderate success in Kingsman until his retirement in 2005. He is currently one of the team principals alongside Iain ‘’Merlin’’ Anderson._

_Gary Unwin has been under close watch ever since he made his GP2 debut in 2008. It was a question of when, not if he would graduate to F1, but the bigger question was which team young Unwin would join. It was rumoured that most teams had approached him, most notably Mercedes AMG Petronas and Valentine F1. Perhaps it shouldn’t have been a surprise when Unwin joined his father’s old team Kingsman in 2010 as a test driver. Fans are now looking forward to seeing Unwin in action, especially after team officials described him as having his father’s talent. If that is true, we might be looking at the next World Champion._

_Kingsman is certainly hoping so, seeing as they last won both the Constructor’s and Driver’s title (Spencer) in 2006. They have been firmly in the top five with Ferrari, Mercedes, Red Bull and Valentine F1 for the past few years, but have rarely reached podium, despite having some of the technically most powerful cars. Kingsman is notorious for keeping drivers on their team for many years, whereas other teams tend to change drivers, which is seen as one of Kingsman’s shortcomings. By the 2009 season, many thought that both Spencer and Morton were past their prime and wished to see some new blood in Kingsman. Change finally came last year, when Roxanne Morton replaced her uncle Percival. Roxanne finished the season in third position, so Kingsman’s luck might be turning, especially with Unwin on their team._

_With the Australian GP only a week away, we can only wait and see if Gary Unwin is really as talented as his father. We can only hope that he won’t meet the same fate.’’_

\--

‘’Stay safe, love, okay?’’ Eggsy’s mum says for the tenth time. They’ve only been on the phone for a couple of minutes, but Eggsy is already regretting this call. He should’ve known better than to call his mum before his first race. Mum hadn’t exactly been happy with Eggsy following his father’s footsteps – or wheeltracks, as it were – and Eggsy couldn’t blame her, seeing what had happened to dad, but ever since dad took him carting when he was five, he had been hooked.

‘’Yeah, ‘course I will, mum,’’ he sighs.

‘’I know that they’ve changed the safety stuff since his time, but I still don’t like it. Driving in those flimsy – ‘’

Eggsy snorts. Merlin would throw a fit if he knew that someone was calling his cars flimsy.

‘’ – things so fast – that just spells trouble,’’ his mum rambles. ‘’Harry Hart has some nerve getting you into those death traps – ‘’

‘’Mum, it’s not on Harry. I would’ve joined another team. This is what I want to do, mum. And I’m bloody good at it. I’ll be safe.’’ Eggsy flops on the bed tiredly. They’ve had this conversation a thousand times. ‘’Gotta go, mum. Call later! Bye!’’ he lies and ends the call.

Eggsy would’ve wanted to join Kingsman even if Harry hadn’t recruited him, because Merlin really was the best engineer and Eggsy wanted to at least try it out. And really, while his mum had her own hang-ups about Harry (she didn’t blame him for Lee’s death, but she regarded the entire sport and everyone involved in it with a healthy amount of suspicion), the only thing Eggsy would ever accuse Harry of was being too bloody perfect.

Eggsy had come to terms with being in love with Harry, but he wasn’t going to act on it. Firstly, he didn’t even know Harry’s orientation. Secondly, he already had the weight of being a legacy driver on his shoulders, he didn’t need the added pressure of being the only current openly gay F1 pilot. Not yet, at least. He’d think about it once he had established himself as a driver and people stopped comparing him to his father.

\--

Eggsy is buzzing from the adrenaline and celebratory champagne. He shouldn’t have drunk so much of the stuff and focussed on spraying it on others, but to be honest, he wasn’t thinking clearly on the podium. In fact, he had stopped thinking clearly when he crossed the finish line and Harry congratulated him over the team radio.

He’s on his way to the post-race press conference, surrounded by the Kingsman team, who are all in very high spirits. Roxy and Merlin had enveloped him into a tight hug as soon as he saw them and the rest of the team have offered their congratulations, but Eggsy hasn’t seen or spoken to Harry after he climbed out of the car. He knows that as the Head of Motorsport of Kingsman F1, Harry has important business to take care of, but Eggsy has just won his first race, _actually finished on P1 in his very first race_ , so Harry’s absence stings a bit.

The crowd finally dissipates, because the team has to get back to their post-race tasks and Roxy is called away to do some other interview and Eggsy is left waiting for Seb and Lewis, who finished in P2 and P3, so that the press conference can begin. He still hasn’t come down from his high, he’s still wired, so every emotion is amplified – the happiness, the pride, but also the horrible gnawing feeling of disappointment that Harry hasn’t had found time to see him in person. Granted, he was the first to congratulate Eggsy over the radio, but that’s not the same.

Eggsy doesn’t expect to see Harry until after the press conference, so he’s surprised when the man jogs in a couple of minutes before it’s scheduled to begin.

‘’Eggsy! Bloody well done!’’ he exclaims and pulls Eggsy into a brief but tight hug, which Eggsy relishes far more than he should. ‘’Beautifully driven, even if you did rub tyres with Button one too many times,’’ he grins and Eggsy can’t help but to grin back.

‘’Nah, he rubbed tyres with me,’’ Eggsy says and tries not to notice how good of a look laughter really is on Harry.

‘’Your father would’ve been very proud of you, Eggsy,’’ says Harry. ‘’As are we all at Kingsman.’’ He looks like he wants to say more, but then Eggsy is whisked away because the press conference is about to begin. He is seated in between Lewis and Seb and he loses sight of Harry, but it feels like a weight has been lifted from his shoulders.

\--

**_Unwin takes first GP win at Melbourne_ **

_‘’Gary Unwin has won the Australian GP, ahead of World Champion Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton. The new Kingsman driver started the race from P5, but managed to overtake both Hamilton and Button in the first corner, making a strong start to his first season in F1._

_Gary is the son on late Lee Unwin and was hired by Kingsman as a test driver during last season before replacing James Spencer as one of Kingsman’s race drivers alongside Roxanne Morton, who came in fourth. All in all, a very successful weekend for Kingsman F1, who is currently number one in the constructor’s leader board. The Australian GP was only the first race in the season, so nothing is set in stone, but with a strong start like that, it seems that Kingsman has come to conquer._

_‘’Gary is an extremely talented driver and he fits into the Kingsman team flawlessly. He spent the last year familiarising himself with the cars and the team and has put in countless hours of hard work, so we can only hope that our cars are a match for his brilliance,’’ said team principal Harry Hart. Kingsman’s engineering director is Iain Anderson, also known as Merlin, who is known for his unrelenting standards and technically brilliant cars, so if the first race is any indication, Kingsman and Unwin are a match made in heaven._

_‘’I am still waiting to wake up – it all feels like a dream,’’ said Unwin at the post-race press conference. ‘’I’m not letting my guard down, though – it’s only the first race. But I have proven that I am a match for Seb and all the other drivers. I will be giving my all throughout the season, they can bet on that.’’_

_It’s too early to analyse Unwin’s style, but some have noted that Unwin’s bold overtakes and risk-taking are more reminiscent of Harry Hart’s style than of Unwin’s father’s. It is certain, however, that fans will be looking forward to seeing Unwin make good on his promise to give it his all.’’_

 

**Author's Note:**

> Follow me on tumblr: eggmuffinwrites.
> 
> I am definitely going to write more about this, because I've got so many ideas + I didn't even get into the huge Kingsman/Valentine F1 rivalry. Because that obviously exists. 
> 
> Let me know what else you want to see me write!


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